


talking into the dark

by amybri2002



Series: whumptober [1]
Category: Sanders Sides (Web Series)
Genre: Angst, Crying, Gen, Human AU, Imprisonment, Not A Happy Ending, being bound in chains, blood mention, hurt/comfort that unfortunately just leads to more hurt
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-10-03
Updated: 2020-10-03
Packaged: 2021-03-07 16:15:34
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,602
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26800507
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/amybri2002/pseuds/amybri2002
Summary: Roman wakes up in a prison cell after a failed attempt at rebellion, and meets Virgil in his cell.
Relationships: Anxiety | Virgil Sanders & Creativity | Roman "Princey" Sanders
Series: whumptober [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1954549
Kudos: 20
Collections: Whumptober 2020





	talking into the dark

**Author's Note:**

> yo! so imma be attempting whumptober, i’m a couple days late to start b u t i’m excited about this lol this is gonna be fun. i do in fact love torturing my favourite characters haha. hope y’all enjoy this ^^ 
> 
> theme: let’s hang out sometime   
> prompt: shackled

Roman's wrists hurt like all hell, and his head was aching, and he could feel something wet dripping down the side of his face, like... blood. When he tried his pull his arm up to check that, he found something holding him back. Chains.

Chains. He was tied up, in a dark room, completely unable to move from his spot, shaking, heart pounding, beginning to struggle to breath. He had brought this upon himself, he knew that - he could vaguely remember the events of before he passed out, how he went to fight the guards, trying to make a different, trying to stop this tyrannical rule. He was part of a rebellion against the King, an undercover prince from another kingdom (which perhaps the King knew), and now he was here, trapped. He tried to move, tried to escape, but it only made his wrists hurt more, the chains seeming to get tighter.

"I wouldn't bother trying to escape," a bored voice said from the other side of the cell. Roman froze, looking around. He couldn't see anyone else, but then again he couldn't see much else either, in the complete darkness. So a person sharing his cell wasn't exactly impossible. "Trust me, it'll only make it worse for you."

Roman was silent for a moment, staying perfectly still, before he called out, loud and clear, "Who are you?"

"No one you need to worry about," the voice called back.

"You're the only other person in here," Roman said, sounding confident despite not really knowing. He'd learnt to do that over the years - if you said something with enough confidence, people would believe you no matter how much truth was in your statement, or how much proof you had. Appearance was everything, and Roman was strong, confident, and assured, no matter how confused and weak he felt on a day-to-day basis. He needed to be the light at the end of the tunnel, the hope that things would be better, and goddamnit was he going to give people that. No matter how helpless he felt. Even now, trapped in a dark cage, with no chance of escape. Probably going to die on the cold floor, die of blood loss or just waste away, no one around to care.

"I am," the voice agreed, "but that doesn't mean anything."

"I'd like to who I'm stuck here with. Perhaps we could help each other out." After silence, Roman added, "My name is Roman, by the way."

He heard a long, drawn out sigh, and then a quiet, "I'm Virgil. Not that that really matters anymore."

Roman tried to reposition himself so he was sat cross legged on the floor, trying not to tug on the chains too much as to not hurt himself any further. "What are you in here for?"

"The King didn't like me," he said, plainly. "And I tried to run one too many times."

"Oh."

"You?"

"I was part of the rebellion," Roman told him. "Got caught."

A pause. "Well, you won't be here much longer at least."

Roman frowned. "How come?" He feared that he already knew the answer, but was trying his best to deny that.

"They kill all the rebellion members," Virgil explained. "Don't want them causing any more trouble."

Ah. So it was what he feared. "H-How come you're still here, then?"

A long, long silence. It didn't seem as though Virgil was going to reply. Meaning Virgil probably wasn't part of the rebellion, but then... well, he didn't seem the type to be some low-life criminal. And he'd mentioned the King not liking him, meaning being put here was probably personal. So then...

"Sorry, that's probably a personal question," Roman said, to which Virgil audibly breathed a sigh of relief.

"How are you so calm about the news that you're probably going to be killed?" Virgil asked instead.

Roman scoffed. "They can't kill me. I'll get out of here."

"I... I don't think you will," Virgil admitted. "Trust me, I've tried. I've tried a million times to run and only ever made it a million times worse. It's better to just... accept your fate, we all die one day."

"That's not a very good thing to live by." Roman sighed. "We're here to make a difference, aren't we?"

Virgil stayed silent, to which Roman couldn't help but feel as though he had said something wrong. During the silence, Roman tried once again to escape - maybe if he pulled hard enough, the chain was detached itself from the wall, and he'd be free to go. Either that, or his hand would detached itself. To be fair, in both cases he wouldn't be chain up anymore, although one would involve an awful lot more blood and pain.

Eventually, Roman gave in, sighing. There was no use, was there? If he wasn't executed in the new few hours, as he suspected, he'd eventually starve or bleed to death, it was... inescapable, at that point. "Y'know, maybe you do have a point." He was desperately trying not to cry. He needed to stay strong, needed to believe there was a way out, needed to-

"In all honesty, it's not like I have much to live for out there, anyway," Virgil said, quietly. Roman stopped thinking, stopping moving, now listening carefully, to the more serious tone of his voice. No, not serious - vulnerable. Emotional. "The only person I ever cared about is the one who put me in here, and he's never going to let me out. I'd rather he just kill me already, but..." A sniffle. He was crying. "Well, he wants to see me suffer. I don't- I don't really blame him, but..."

"Why would anyone want that?" Roman questioned, more to himself than anyone. He wasn't expecting Virgil to answer, just... couldn't believe what he was hearing. "What did you even do?" 

He sucked in a sharp breath of air. "I-" A sob. Oh.

"Y-You don't have to talk about it, if you don't want to," Roman promised, beginning to move towards him to comfort him before he remembered the chains, and in turn winced as the metal scraped against his skin.

"No, I..." He didn't speak after that, for a short while. All Roman could hear was his crying, echoing through the room, a desperate cry for help, for safety, for what he had lost. Roman had no idea what to do. After a while, the sobs quietened down, and now all that could be heard was a shaky breathe. And then... "I'm sorry. I just-" 

"Don't apologise," Roman said. "I'm- How long have you been in here?"

A brief silence. "I don't know, a few weeks maybe?"

Oh. "Have you been... alone all this time?"

"Yes."

Oh. "Well then, I say you deserve a good cry, and someone to listen to you. I'm here, okay?"

Virgil snorted. "Yeah, not by choice though-"

"Well, I'm glad I am here," Roman decided. He wasn't, not really - he'd much sooner be defeating the King right now, as he'd originally planned, but he was willing to improvise, eventually things would work out. If he wasn't executed before then, that is.

"You got arrested," Virgil reminded him.

"Well, yeah, but-" He shook his head. "I could help you. I want to help you."

"Look, in case you haven't noticed, we're kinda both in prison, you're gonna be executed in the morning, and I'm probably gonna be stuck here the rest of my life, there isn't really much either one of us can do."

"We could escape," Roman suggested. Perhaps a little too hopeful - he knew there was little chance of escape, but...

"And then what?" Virgil spat. "You go back to your rebellion or whatever, get caught again, or try to go kill the King and end up dead yourself. And I'll just be thrown back in here, or maybe put somewhere worse, hurt even more. There's no point."

"That wouldn't happen," Roman said, quietly. "I could- I could take you with me, to the rebellion, we'd rethink our plan and do better next time, we could-"

"I don't want to be part of some stupid rebellion," Virgil said, which, Roman had to admit, stung a little. "What I want is my old life back, but that's not happened. The only thing left for me is to die and they're not even letting me do that."

"There's... That can't be the only thing left for you," Roman argued. "There's so much to see in the world, surely-"

"I don't care about the world, I just..." He was starting to cry again. "I just want everything to be the way that it was. But I fucked up and there's nothing we can do about that, okay?" Roman heard shuffling, and then shallow breathing. "Just leave me alone."

Roman wanted to argue more. He wanted to convince Virgil that there was still hope, still a chance for him to live a good life, a happy life, free of everything, no fear and no torture, exactly what the rebellion strived to achieve. But... well, Roman was beginning to lose hope as well. No matter how hard he tugged, how much sweat dripped down his forehead, how many tears he had to shed, he couldn't break free of his chains. Couldn't make a difference anymore.

Roman sighed, and leant back against the window, closing his eyes as a single tear rolled down his cheek. He was exhausted, emotionally and physically, and... and his determined nature was slowly slipping away, his confidence slowly fading.

He needed sleep, rest. He could try again in the morning.


End file.
